Record-breaking cold that gripped the U.S. East and Midwest on Thursday snarled travel, shut schools, filled homeless shelters and even led to zoo penguins being ordered inside.

 

Snow expected to accumulate to 3 feet (1 meter) deep was falling in upstate New York near Watertown, and snow already blanketing South Dakota was whipped by winds into a "ground blizzard" that made driving treacherous, said meteorologist Dan Petersen of the National Weather Service.

 

The coldest place in the country on Thursday was Estcourt Station, the northernmost point in Maine, with temperatures of minus 38 degrees F (minus 39 C), he said.

 

Records were broken from Montpelier, Vermont, at minus 20 F (minus 29 C), to Jackson, Kentucky, with minus 1 F (minus 18 C), he said. Snow flurries were reported as far south as Jacksonville, Florida.

 

Cold bitter enough to freeze fuel lines on school buses forced schools to close from Portland, Maine, to Chicago. Train rails cracked by the cold caused delays for commuters in Washington, D.C. Weather also hung up U.S. air travel with 1,937 delays and 515 cancellations by mid-afternoon, according to FlightAware.com.

 

In Pittsburgh, two baby African penguins were moved indoors at the National Aviary, where the endangered animals that are native to South Africa will remain until temperatures rise.

 

Frostbite could set in with just 15 minutes' exposure to the frigid air, the weather service said, advising people to keep pets indoors.

 

Temperatures also plummeted to an uncharacteristic 10 to 15 degrees F (minus 12 C to minus 9 C) overnight across the Gulf Coast. In South Carolina, the odd snowflake on the beach drew excited observers outside to watch in wonder.

 

 

PHOTO: A man walks past the ice-covered Josephine Shaw Lowell Memorial Fountain, in frigid temperatures in Bryant Park in Manhattan, January 8, 2015.

CREDIT: REUTERS/Mike Segar.